Dreamland Dripping Springs co-hosted an Amateur Pickleball Night with athleisure brand Outdoor Voices last week, drawing over 250 attendees.
From approximately 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 14, the outdoor entertainment, recreation and arts venue saw participants from around the Austin area learn to play pickleball, enjoy games on its courts and pick up complimentary drinks at its beer garden. Some attendees arrived multiple hours early, hoping to be one of the first 50 in order to receive a goodie bag from Outdoor Voices. OV, which markets itself as “an active lifestyle brand,” provided each of the 50 with one of its famed exercise dresses, a men's tank top, crew socks, a hat and stickers.
Check-in lines extended through the Dreamland parking lot and onto its driveway.
But while the apparel might have been the big draw, most attendees stayed for the pickleball, signing up for beginnerlevel clinics and picking up games on the outside courts.
Dreamland pickleball instructors and Major League Pickleball professionals were present to facilitate these activities.
“My hope in coming today was that I could share my love of pickleball with people who maybe haven’t even played before,” said Darrian “JC” Young, the 2021 World Pickleball Champion. “There were people here that were 105% new, and it’s been so fun to work and play with them.”
“There’d be 20 to 25 people at a time, all holding the paddle a different way,” he added with a chuckle.
Major league pickleball began at Dreamland in the fall of 2021, offering a host of new recreational and professional opportunities.
“There are three of us [pickleball professional athletes] that currently work out of Dreamland,” Young said. “We commit our whole lives to it — on the court playing, in our beds watching videos of court play. But it’s amazing: getting to do something you love as a sustainable career.”
Young said he thinks the sport will continue to grow, even as it continues to gain popularity.
“It’s not for old people,” he explained. “It’s not tennis; it’s its own sport, and there’s a lot to learn and enjoy about it.” Dreamland Dripping Springs and Outdoor Voices will host another joint event, an Amateur Sporting Club, on July 30 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, visit dreamland.us.
